Sources and impact of occupational demands for autistic employees

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2020.101571Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Work stress has a greater impact on wellbeing for autistic (vs non-autistic) people

  • Relationships with management are important resources for autistic employees

  • Autistic employees may also benefit from non-organisational supports

Abstract

Background

Occupational demands are well documented for the general population. Social relationships are one such demand, according to job demands-resources theory. When demands exceed an individual’s available resources, stress results; in turn impacting well-being. Little research has investigated the potential differences between social demands, the impact of demands and relationships that buffer these comparing autistic and non-autistic (i.e., neuro-typical; NT) individuals.

Method

Using an online survey, the present exploratory study gathered 140 responses. Thematic analysis was applied.

Results

Different facets of social relationships were described by autistic (n = 81) and NT individuals (n = 31) as an occupational demand. Together, demands appear to have a greater impact on well-being for autistic, compared to NT, employees. To buffer demands, both autistic and NT individuals expressed relationships with management as important. Yet, autistic employees favoured non-organisational supports, compared to NT individuals who favoured collegial support.

Conclusions

By understanding individual needs and providing flexible work practices, supportive management processes can assist autistic individuals in managing workplace demands, particularly improving social interactions in the work environment. Employers might also consider adapting job roles and organisational diversity policies to better suit individual needs. As well, providing additional external supports, e.g., via employee assistance programs.

Introduction

Autistic individuals are described as producing high-quality work (Hedley et al., 2018; Lee, Black, Tan, Falkmer, & Girdler, 2019; Nicholas, Mitchell, Zulla, & Dudley, 2019). Their attention to detail (Nicholas, Mitchell, Zulla, Solomatin, & Qi, 2019; Richardson, McCoy, & McNaughton, 2019), and excellent problem-solving ability make them excellent employees (Black et al., 2019; Hedley et al., 2018). The contribution these individuals can make in the workplace, and the value of their inclusion is now well recognised, evidenced by the increasing number of organisations adopting autism employment initiatives (Hayward, McVilly, & Stokes, 2019). Autistic employees increase company diversity (Hedley, Wilmot, Spoor, & Dissanayake, 2017; Scott et al., 2017). In turn, organisations can benefit from increased innovation (Reese & Gilmartin, 2017), performance (Mohammed & Nadkarni, 2014; Valls, González-Romá, & Tomás, 2016), and productivity (Hedley et al., 2017; Scott et al., 2017). However, autistic employees experience multiple barriers to sustaining employment and maximising their productivity, including managing social demands, and occupational stress (Hayward, McVilly, & Stokes, 2018). Consequently, employers can struggle to capitalise on their skills, and the community loses their economic contribution (World Health Organisation, 2019).

Occupational stress (OS) could be among the most significant employment barriers for autistic people, requiring attention to both organisational policy and practice. Research conducted with the general population has clearly established OS as one of the main drivers of decreased job performance (Ajayi & Abimbola, 2013; Hon & Chan, 2013), resulting in decreased productivity (Ammendolia et al., 2016; Laing & Jones, 2016). In turn, OS increases absenteeism (Biron & De Reuver, 2013; Lerner et al., 2010), and staff turnover (Cho, Rutherford, Friend, Hamwi, & Park, 2017; Sears, Shi, Coberley, & Pope, 2013). Notably, autistic employees report instances of OS (Baldwin, Costley, & Warren, 2014; Hayward et al., 2018a). Their experience of OS could relate to workplace conditions (Hayward, McVilly, & Stokes, 2018; Pfeiffer, Braun, Kinnealey, Matczaka, & Polatajko, 2017). If so, then developing an understanding of occupational demands (herein referred to as ‘demands’) and developing strategies of reasonable adjustment could provide solutions for autistic employees, their employers, and the economy.

The primary hallmark of autism are challenges with social interaction and communication (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). In the workplace, these might present as barriers fitting in and getting along with others (Baldwin & Costley, 2016; Hayward et al., 2018a). However, also symptomatic of autism are repetitive, restricted interests, and behaviours (APA, 2013). At work this may appear as difficulty with executive functioning or cognitive inflexibility (Kiep & Spek, 2017; Wang et al., 2017). For example, needing structured tasks or work, and difficulty adjusting to change (Gal, Landes, & Katz, 2015; Lorenz, Frischling, Cuadros, & Heinitz, 2016). Additionally, many autistic people possess hypo- and/or hyper-sensory sensitivity of one or more of the senses (APA, 2013). This can affect how they experience their physical occupational environment (Baldwin et al., 2014; Lorenz et al., 2016).

The Job Demand Resources (JD-R) model might conceptualise the workplace challenges of autistic people. The JD-R considers the balance between demands and resources in association with stress (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; Demerouti, Bakker, Nachreiner, & Schaufeli, 2001). Both demands and resources can be any social, psychological, physical, or organisational aspect/s of the job. To illustrate, energy, self-esteem, money, material possessions, and time. These aspects become demands if employees expend excess energy meeting them, thereby contributing to stress. Excessive demands are related to burnout (Demerouti et al., 2001). Burnout is the emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and diminished personal accomplishment arising from disproportionate demands relative to employees’ skills, knowledge, and available resources (Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001). Resources can buffer the impact of demands (Bakker, Xanthopoulou, Hakanen, & Demerouti, 2007; Upadyaya, Salmela-Aro, & Vartiainen, 2016).

Relating to social demands and resources, as social communication are seemingly core to the workplace experience of autistic people (Hayward et al., 2018a, b), in the general population social support can be a demand or resource depending on the extent to which the individual perceives the relationship as valuable (Karasek & Theorell, 1990). For example, social support can be a resource if employees utilise this by asking for assistance to complete a job task thereby buffering a demand (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007; see also, Mette, Velasco Garrido, Preisser, Harth, & Mache, 2018; Schön-Persson, Nilsson-Lindström, Pettersson, Nilsson, & Blomqvist, 2018). However, for autistic adults even when it might result in resolving a workplace issue and its associated OS, social interaction can, ironically, itself be stress inducing and therefore a demand. Considering this and given close alignment with the JD-R model, Conservation of Resources (COR) theory could also help explain what might be happening in the workplace (Hobfoll, 2001). Thus, providing a framework for offering reasonable adjustments.

COR theory states that if actual or perceived net resources (e.g., coping, social support, and emotional energy) are lost and therefore outweigh a gain in resources, compromised well-being results (Hobfoll, 2001). Individuals with fewer resources to begin with are more vulnerable to future loss, known as loss spirals. This is because once resources are lost, they are more difficult to regain. Resources must be spent to prevent and recover from losses, or to gain resources. Because workplace relationships can amount to both a resource and demand, the types of relationships autistic employees consider resourceful are potentially key to helping them manage OS (Hayward et al., 2019).

In the general population, both management and co-worker support have direct effects on OS (Yang et al., 2015). Yet, support from managers may have a greater contribution to resource gain than co-worker support (Ariza-Montes, Arjona-Fuentes, Han, & Law, 2018; Charoensukmongkol, Moqbel, & Gutierrez-Wirsching, 2016). These relationships are yet to be investigated for autistic employees. Understanding this can help organisations and policy makers target OS thus increasing employee productivity, and fully utilise the potential of autistic employees. Therefore, this study compared autistic employees and their NT peers to examine differences between social demands, the impact of demands, and which occupational relationships are valuable resources to buffer demands.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants (n = 140) were from Australia (n = 69), the United Kingdom (n = 26), and the United States (n = 45). Of these, 101 (72%) were autistic individuals aged 18 to 61 years (M = 37.87, SD = 11.64; women, 80%, n = 81); 39 were NT individuals aged 23 to 62 years (M = 39.62, SD = 10.24; women, 62%, n= 24;t(138) = .82, p ≥ .05).

Self-reported autism diagnoses are consistent with methods of other studies concerning employment and autism (see, Baldwin et al., 2014; Baldwin & Costley, 2016;

Findings

The facets of social demands (i.e., second-order themes) emerging from the data were social communication, organisational politics/bureaucracy and people management responsibilities. Themes, their frequency by participant group, NVivo codes, and additional thick descriptions (example quotes) are presented in Table 3. Quotes were selected based on both their demonstration of the theme and impact of demands where possible.

Discussion

This study investigated perceived social demands, their impact, and the types of workplace relationships that buffer demands in autistic and NT individuals. Using the JD-R model, the present study extends current thought on the topic of autism employment by demonstrating the importance of managing demands. By defining the workplace relationships most valuable for autistic employees to navigate demands, this research offers a potential basis of successful reasonable workplace adjustments to

Conclusion

This study established that the aspects of professional relationships considered a demand differ between autistic and NT people. Autistic people more frequently consider social communication as demanding. Workplace demands also appear to have a greater impact on autistic than NT employees. To help autistic individuals manage demands, and potentially improve their well-being, relationships with employers (including with their supervisors and supportive organisational policies) can play a pivotal

Authorship confirmation statement

Dr Susan M Hayward designed the study, recruited participants, and collected the data presented in this manuscript as part of her Doctoral work. She conducted the analyses, and led in preparing the manuscript, including doing the majority of the writing.

Professor Keith McVilly co-designed the study, critically reviewed both the original Doctoral thesis and this manuscript, contributing expertise and suggestions for the write-up of the data.

Associate Professor Mark Stokes co-designed the design

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr Sheridan Forster who double coded data for this project.

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